The Prosecutor’s Office in the southern city of Mostar said on Tuesday that it is looking into several complaints made by the Financial Police and by employees of Bosnia’s struggling aluminium producer ‘Aluminij d.d. Mostar,’ and dismissed claims that it was under political influence.
The company, which employs some 900 people, has been recording losses for years, which now amount to 400 Bosnian Marks (some €204 million). Its electricity debt end of June this year was some 293 million Bosnian Marks (about €150 million).
RELATED NEWS
Although management and workers warned that should electricity be shut off, it would effectively mean the end of the company as the liquid aluminum in the electrolytic cells would “freeze up,” which would cost about €90,000 per cell to make them work again. Aluminij has 256 electrolytic cells.
But this is exactly what happened the night between Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
However, according to the chairman of its Supervisory Board, Zdenko Klepic, the company was saved from bankruptcy for another six months by a Friday decision made at a telephone session of the government of the Federation (FBiH).
The company is seen as having been under the control of the main Croat party in the country, the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ), which is why last week the workers protested in front of the HDZ headquarters in Mostar.
All of the company’s managers over the past decade were HDZ members. Now the Prosecution Office says it is investigating some of the management but that the case is complex and requires additional prosecutors and experts.
The Office called upon everybody who could provide information and evidence about the case to come forward.
